'Top Chef' New Orleans: Watch a First Look

With a new season of Top Chef just around the corner, we've got a three new sneak peeks at the team's time in New Orleans. And judging from the first few scenes, the competition is going to be fiercer than ever. Watch the clips below.

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Hosts Padma Lakshmi and Tom Colicchio waste no time in ramping up the intensity. From the start, they announce there will be no Quickfire Challenge. What's more? The Cheftestants are immediately shipped off to the swamp for the first round, where they'll have unique proteins to cook with. As Stephanie Cmar says, "Sh-- was real and then sh-- got really, really, really real." For real!

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Once Padma, Tom, and the rest of the gang head out to the "soiree in a swamp," one can only wondern what kind of drama is looming in the Louisiana marshes. "It's gonna be nuts," as one Chef says.

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But the surroundings don't prove too disastrous, and with their dishes finally prepared, the chefs present their creations to the judges—including "Swamp Queen" Padma Lakshmi. Still, there's already some animosity brewing among the judges' personalities and it seems Jason Cichonski might be this season's "cocky" one.